Image encoding and decoding method supporting plurality of layers and apparatus using same

ABSTRACT

An image decoding method supporting a plurality of layers according to the present invention may comprise the steps of: receiving location information on a location in which an inter-layer reference picture set for one or more reference layers, to which a current picture can refer, is added to a reference picture list; generating an initial reference picture list including the inter-layer reference picture set on the basis of the location information; and predicting the current picture on the basis of the initial reference picture list. Accordingly, the present invention provides a method for signaling location information on a location in which an inter-layer reference picture is added to a reference picture list, and an apparatus using the same.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention generally relates to video compression technology and, more particularly, to a method and device for performing video coding that supports a multi-layer structure.

BACKGROUND ART

Recently, demand for high-resolution, high-quality video such as HD (High Definition) video and UHD (Ultra High Definition) video is increasing in various application fields. As video data has high-resolution, high-quality images, the amount of data is higher than for existing video data. Therefore, when the video data is transmitted using media such as existing wired and wireless broadband lines or is stored in existing storage media, transmission costs and storage costs increase. To solve these problems caused by the high-resolution and high-quality video data, high-efficiency video compression techniques may be used.

As video compression techniques, there are various techniques such as an inter-prediction technique for predicting the values of pixels included in a current picture from pictures that precede or follow the current picture, an intra-prediction technique for predicting the values of pixels in the current picture using information about the pixels included in the current picture, an entropy coding technique, in which the shortest code is assigned to the most frequently used value and the longest code is assigned to the least frequently used value, and the like. Video data may be effectively compressed using these video compression techniques, and may then be transmitted or stored.

DISCLOSURE Technical Problem

An object of an embodiment of the present invention is to provide a method for generating, for a target layer to be currently encoded and decoded, a reference picture list including pictures of another layer, and a device using the method.

Another object of the embodiment of the present invention is to provide a method for adaptively including pictures of another layer in a reference picture list depending on the characteristics of picture sets, and a device using the method.

An object of another embodiment of the present invention is to provide a method for partitioning reference pictures of another layer and including the partitioned reference pictures in a reference picture list, and a device using the method.

Another object of the other embodiment of the present invention is to provide a method for adaptively including reference pictures of another layer in a reference picture list depending on the sequence of views, and a device using the method.

A further object of the other embodiment of the present invention is to provide a method for adaptively including pictures of another layer in a reference picture list depending on the index value of the temporal sub-layer of a current picture, and a device using the method.

An object of a further embodiment of the present invention is to provide a method for adaptively including pictures of another layer in a reference picture list depending on the difference between the index values of temporal sub-layers of layers, and a device using the method.

An object of yet another embodiment of the present invention is to provide a method for signaling position information about the position to which an inter-layer reference picture is added in a reference picture list, and a device using the method.

Technical Solution

A video decoding method for decoding a video supporting multiple layers according to an embodiment of the present invention includes receiving information about a position, to which an inter-layer reference picture set for at least one reference layer that is capable of being referred to by a current picture is to be added, in a reference picture list; generating an initial reference picture list including the inter-layer reference picture set based on the position information; and performing prediction of the current picture based on the initial reference picture list.

The video decoding method may further include generating a short-term reference picture set and a long-term reference picture set, each including pictures present in a layer identical to that of the current picture, wherein generating the initial reference picture list is configured to add, based on the position information, the inter-layer reference picture set to a position in the initial reference picture list, indicated by the position information.

The position information may be received, with the position information being included in a slice header or a sequence header.

Receiving the position information may include receiving an indication flag that indicates whether an indication index indicating the position, to which an inter-layer reference picture that is capable of being referred to by the current picture is to be added, in the initial reference picture list has been transmitted; and receiving the indication index when the indication flag is 1.

The indication flag may be received, with the indication flag being included in a video parameter set of each layer.

The indication index may be received, with the indication index being included in a slice header or a sequence header.

The initial reference picture list may include initial reference picture list 0, and the initial reference picture list 0 may be constructed in a sequence of a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having Picture Order Counts (POCs) less than that of the current picture, the inter-layer reference picture set, a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, and a long-term reference picture set including long-term reference pictures.

The initial reference picture list may include initial reference picture list 1, and the initial reference picture list 1 may be constructed in a sequence of a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, the inter-layer reference picture set, a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, and a long-term reference picture set including long-term reference pictures.

The inter-layer reference picture set may include a first sub-reference layer picture set and a second sub-reference layer picture set, and the first sub-reference layer picture set and the second sub-reference layer picture set are separated and aligned in the initial reference picture list.

The inter-layer reference picture set may include multiview reference layer pictures, the initial reference picture list may include initial reference picture list 0, and the initial reference picture list 0 is aligned in a sequence of a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, the first sub-reference layer picture set including pictures having a view sequential position lower than that of the current picture among the multiview reference layer pictures, a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, a long-term reference picture set including long-term reference pictures, and the second sub-reference layer picture set including pictures having a view sequential position higher than that of the current picture among the multiview reference layer pictures.

The inter-layer reference picture set may include multiview reference layer pictures, the initial reference picture list comprises initial reference picture list 1, and the initial reference picture list 1 is aligned in a sequence of a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, the second sub-reference layer picture set including pictures having a view sequential position higher than that of the current picture among the multiview reference layer pictures, a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, a long-term reference picture set including long-term reference pictures, and the first sub-reference layer picture set including pictures having a view sequential position lower than that of the current picture among the multiview reference layer pictures.

The video decoding method may further include receiving flag information that indicates whether the inter-layer reference picture set is separated into at least two sub-reference layer picture sets and then added to the reference picture list.

The video decoding method may further include, when the flag information is 1, receiving information about a number of sub-reference layer picture sets into which the inter-layer reference picture set is separated.

Generating the inter-layer reference picture set may be performed based on a temporal sub-layer index (tempralId) of the current picture.

Generating the inter-layer reference picture set may be performed based on a maximum number of temporal sub-layers to which inter-layer prediction is permitted.

The video decoding method may further include generating a final reference picture list by modifying the initial reference picture list.

Performing prediction of the current picture may be configured to use reference pictures included in the inter-layer reference picture set as reference pictures of the current picture.

A video decoding device for decoding video supporting multiple layers according to another embodiment of the present invention includes an entropy decoding part for decoding information required for prediction and decoding of video received via a bitstream; and a prediction part for deriving information about a position, to which an inter-layer reference picture set for at least one reference layer that is capable of being referred to by a current picture is to be added, in a reference picture list, generating an initial reference picture list including the inter-layer reference picture set based on the position information, and performing prediction of the current picture based on the initial reference picture list.

Advantageous Effects

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, there are provided a method for generating, for a target layer to be currently encoded and decoded, a reference picture list including pictures of another layer, and a device using the method.

Further, in accordance with the embodiment of the present invention, there are provided a method for adaptively including pictures of another layer in a reference picture list depending on the characteristics of picture sets, and a device using the method.

Meanwhile, in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, there are provided a method for partitioning reference pictures of another layer and including the partitioned reference pictures in a reference picture list, and a device using the method.

In accordance with the other embodiment of the present invention, there are provided a method for adaptively including reference pictures of another layer in a reference picture list depending on the sequence of views, and a device using the method.

Furthermore, in accordance with the other embodiment of the present invention, there are provided a method for adaptively including pictures of another layer in a reference picture list depending on the index value of the temporal sub-layer of a current picture, and a device using the method.

In accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention, there are provided a method for adaptively including pictures of another layer in a reference picture list depending on the difference between the index values of temporal sub-layers of layers, and a device using the method.

In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention is to provide a method for signaling position information about the position to which an inter-layer reference picture is added in a reference picture list, and a device using the method.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically showing an encoding device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a decoding device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a reference picture set that includes short-term reference pictures;

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method for deriving the Picture Order Count (POC) of long-term reference pictures;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example in which a reference picture list is constructed;

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing an example in which an inter-layer reference picture list is constructed according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the construction of reference picture list 0 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the construction of reference picture list 0 according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the construction of reference picture list 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the construction of reference picture list 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 illustrates a reference picture list constructed using temporal sub-layer indices according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 illustrates a reference picture list constructed using multiview reference pictures according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a method for generating a reference picture list according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a method for generating a reference picture list according to another embodiment of the present invention.

BEST MODE

A video decoding method for decoding a video supporting multiple layers according to an embodiment of the present invention includes receiving information about a position, to which an inter-layer reference picture set for at least one reference layer that is capable of being referred to by a current picture is to be added, in a reference picture list; generating an initial reference picture list including the inter-layer reference picture set based on the position information; and performing prediction of the current picture based on the initial reference picture list.

The video decoding method may further include generating a short-term reference picture set and a long-term reference picture set, each including pictures present in a layer identical to that of the current picture, wherein generating the initial reference picture list is configured to add, based on the position information, the inter-layer reference picture set to a position in the initial reference picture list, indicated by the position information.

The position information may be received, with the position information being included in a slice header or a sequence header.

Receiving the position information may include receiving an indication flag that indicates whether an indication index indicating the position, to which an inter-layer reference picture that is capable of being referred to by the current picture is to be added, in the initial reference picture list has been transmitted; and receiving the indication index when the indication flag is 1.

The indication flag may be received, with the indication flag being included in a video parameter set of each layer.

The indication index may be received, with the indication index being included in a slice header or a sequence header.

The initial reference picture list may include initial reference picture list 0, and the initial reference picture list 0 may be constructed in a sequence of a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having Picture Order Counts (POCs) less than that of the current picture, the inter-layer reference picture set, a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, and a long-term reference picture set including long-term reference pictures.

The initial reference picture list may include initial reference picture list 1, and the initial reference picture list 1 may be constructed in a sequence of a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, the inter-layer reference picture set, a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, and a long-term reference picture set including long-term reference pictures.

The inter-layer reference picture set may include a first sub-reference layer picture set and a second sub-reference layer picture set, and the first sub-reference layer picture set and the second sub-reference layer picture set are separated and aligned in the initial reference picture list.

The inter-layer reference picture set may include multiview reference layer pictures, the initial reference picture list may include initial reference picture list 0, and the initial reference picture list 0 is aligned in a sequence of a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, the first sub-reference layer picture set including pictures having a view sequential position lower than that of the current picture among the multiview reference layer pictures, a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, a long-term reference picture set including long-term reference pictures, and the second sub-reference layer picture set including pictures having a view sequential position higher than that of the current picture among the multiview reference layer pictures.

The inter-layer reference picture set may include multiview reference layer pictures, the initial reference picture list comprises initial reference picture list 1, and the initial reference picture list 1 is aligned in a sequence of a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, the second sub-reference layer picture set including pictures having a view sequential position higher than that of the current picture among the multiview reference layer pictures, a short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, a long-term reference picture set including long-term reference pictures, and the first sub-reference layer picture set including pictures having a view sequential position lower than that of the current picture among the multiview reference layer pictures.

The video decoding method may further include receiving flag information that indicates whether the inter-layer reference picture set is separated into at least two sub-reference layer picture sets and then added to the reference picture list.

The video decoding method may further include, when the flag information is 1, receiving information about a number of sub-reference layer picture sets into which the inter-layer reference picture set is separated.

Generating the inter-layer reference picture set may be performed based on a temporal sub-layer index (tempralId) of the current picture.

Generating the inter-layer reference picture set may be performed based on a maximum number of temporal sub-layers to which inter-layer prediction is permitted.

The video decoding method may further include generating a final reference picture list by modifying the initial reference picture list.

Performing prediction of the current picture may be configured to use reference pictures included in the inter-layer reference picture set as reference pictures of the current picture.

A video decoding device for decoding video supporting multiple layers according to another embodiment of the present invention includes an entropy decoding part for decoding information required for prediction and decoding of video received via a bitstream; and a prediction part for deriving information about a position, to which an inter-layer reference picture set for at least one reference layer that is capable of being referred to by a current picture is to be added, in a reference picture list, generating an initial reference picture list including the inter-layer reference picture set based on the position information, and performing prediction of the current picture based on the initial reference picture list.

MODE FOR INVENTION

Element modules described in the embodiments and drawings of the present invention are independently shown in order to indicate different and characteristic functions of a video encoding device. However, this does not mean that each of the element modules is formed of a separate piece of hardware or software. That is, the element modules are arranged and included for convenience of description, and at least two of the element modules may form one element module or one element module may be divided into a plurality of element modules to perform their own functions. An embodiment in which the element modules are integrated and an embodiment in which the element modules are separated are included in the scope of the present invention, unless it departs from the essence of the present invention.

Further, some elements disclosed in the present invention are not essential elements for performing essential functions, but may be optional elements for improving only performance.

The present invention may be implemented using only essential elements for implementing the essence of the present invention, without elements used merely to improve performance, and a structure including only essential elements, but not optional elements used only to improve performance, is included in the scope of the present invention.

The present invention may be variously changed and may have various embodiments, and specific embodiments will be described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings. However, it should be understood that those embodiments are not intended to limit the present invention to specific disclosure forms and they include all changes, equivalents or modifications included in the spirit and scope of the present invention. The terms used in the present specification are merely used to describe specific embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. A singular expression includes a plural expression unless a description to the contrary is specifically pointed out in context. In the present specification, it should be understood that the terms such as “include” or “have” are merely intended to indicate that features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof are present, and are not intended to exclude the possibility that one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof will be present or added.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description of the present invention, the same reference numerals are used to designate the same or similar components throughout the drawings and repeated descriptions of the same components will be omitted.

Video encoding and decoding that support multiple layers in a bitstream are referred to as “scalable coding”. Since there is a strong correlation between multiple layers, duplicate elements in data may be removed and the encoding performance of video may be improved if prediction is performed based on such correlation. Hereinafter, predicting the current layer, which is the target of prediction, using information about another layer is referred to as “inter-layer prediction”.

At least one of a resolution, a frame rate, and a color format may be different between the multiple layers, and up-sampling or down-sampling may be performed in order to adjust the resolution during the inter-layer prediction.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating an encoding device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

An encoding device 100 according to the present invention includes an encoding unit 100 a for an upper layer and an encoding unit 100 b for a lower layer.

The upper layer may be called a current layer or an enhancement layer, and the lower layer may be called a reference layer or a base layer. At least one of the resolution, frame rate, and color format may differ between the upper layer and the lower layer. When a change of resolution is required for inter-layer prediction, up-sampling or down-sampling of the layer may be performed.

The encoding unit 100 a for the upper layer may include a partitioning unit 110, a prediction unit 100, an intra-prediction unit 121, an inter-prediction unit 122, an inter-layer prediction unit 123, a transform unit 130, a quantization unit 140, a rearrangement unit 150, an entropy coding unit 160, an inverse quantization unit 170, an inverse-transform unit 180, a filter unit 190, a memory 195, and a multiplexer (MUX) 197.

The encoding unit 100 b for the lower layer may include a partitioning unit 111, a prediction unit 125, an intra-prediction unit 126, an inter-prediction unit 127, a transform unit 131, a quantization unit 141, a rearrangement unit 151, an entropy coding unit 161, an inverse quantization unit 171, an inverse-transform unit 181, a filter unit 191, and a memory 196.

The encoding unit may be implemented by a video encoding method described in an embodiment of the present invention, which will be described below, but the operations of some units may not be performed in order to reduce the complexity of the encoding device or to enable fast real-time encoding. For example, rather than a method in which all intra-prediction mode methods are used to select the optimal intra-encoding method, a method in which one is selected from among a limited number of intra-prediction modes and the selected one is set as the final intra-prediction mode may be performed for real-time encoding when the prediction unit performs intra-prediction. In another example, a shape of a prediction block used for intra-prediction or inter-prediction may have a limited form.

The unit of a block processed in the encoding device may be a coding unit for performing coding, a prediction unit for performing prediction, or a transform unit for performing transformation. The coding unit, the prediction unit, and the transform unit may be represented as CU, PU, and TU, respectively.

Each of the partitioning units 110 and 111 may partition a layer picture into multiple combinations of coding blocks, prediction blocks, and transform blocks, and may partition a layer by selecting one combination of coding blocks, prediction blocks, and transform blocks based on a predetermined reference (for example, a cost function). For example, in order to partition a layer picture into coding units, a recursive tree structure such as a QuadTree structure may be used. Hereinafter, in an embodiment of the present invention, a coding block may mean not only a block for encoding but also a block for decoding.

A prediction block may be a unit for performing prediction, such as intra-prediction or inter-prediction. A block for intra-prediction may be a block having the form of a square, such as 2N×2N or N×N. As a block for inter-prediction, there are a block in the form of a square, such as 2N×2N and N×N, a block in the form of 2N×N and N×2N, obtained by bisecting a prediction block having a square form, and a block having an asymmetric form, obtained by a prediction block partitioning method using Asymmetric Motion Partitioning (AMP). The transform unit 115 may use different transform methods depending on the form of the prediction block.

Each of the prediction units 120 and 125 of the encoding units 100 a and 100 b may include an intra-prediction unit 121 or 126 for performing intra-prediction and an inter-prediction unit 1122 or 126 for performing inter-prediction. The prediction unit 120 of the encoding unit 100 a for the upper layer further includes an inter-layer prediction unit 123, which performs prediction of the upper layer using the information about the lower layer.

Each of the prediction units 120 and 125 may determine whether to perform inter-prediction or intra-prediction of a prediction block. The processing unit on which prediction is performed may be different from the unit of the processing block for determining the prediction method. For example, when intra-prediction is performed, the prediction mode may be determined based on a prediction block, and the prediction process may be performed based on a transform block. A residual (residual block) between the generated prediction block and the original block may be input to the transform units 130 and 131. Also, the prediction mode information used for prediction, motion vector information, and the like are encoded along with the residual by the entropy coding unit 130, and then may be transmitted to the decoding device.

When a Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) encode mode is used, the original block may be encoded without performing prediction by the prediction units 120 and 125, and then may be transmitted to a decoding part.

Each of the intra-prediction units 121 and 126 may generate an intra-predicted block based on reference pixels adjacent to the current block (the prediction target block). In the intra-prediction method, the intra-prediction mode may have a directional prediction mode, which uses reference pixel information according to the prediction direction, and a non-directional mode, which does not use direction information when making the prediction. The mode for predicting luma information may be different from the mode for predicting chroma information. Intra-prediction mode information, obtained by predicting luma information, or information about the predicted luma signal may be used to predict chroma information. Meanwhile, if the reference pixels are not available, a prediction block may be generated by replacing the unavailable reference pixels with other pixels.

A prediction block may include multiple transform blocks. If the size of a prediction block is the same as the size of a transform block when performing intra-prediction, intra-prediction of the prediction block may be performed based on a left pixel, an upper-left pixel, and an upper pixel of the prediction block. However, if the prediction block includes multiple transform blocks because the size of a prediction block is different from that of a transform block when performing intra-prediction, intra-prediction may be performed based on reference pixels determined based on the transform block.

The intra-prediction method may generate a prediction block after applying a Mode-Dependent Intra Smoothing (MDIS) filter to reference pixels according to the intra-prediction mode. The type of MDIS filter applied to the reference pixels may vary. The MDIS filter, which is an additional filter applied to an intra-predicted block generated by performing intra-prediction, may be used for reducing a residual between reference pixels and the intra-predicted block, generated after performing prediction. When MDIS filtering is performed, different filtering may be performed on reference pixels and on some columns included in the intra-predicted block according to the direction of the intra-prediction mode.

Each of the inter-prediction units 122 and 127 may perform prediction by referring to the information about a block included in at least one of the picture preceding or the picture following the current picture. Each of the inter-prediction units 122 and 127 may include a reference picture interpolation unit, a motion prediction unit, and a motion compensation unit.

The reference picture interpolation unit may receive reference picture information from a memory 195 or 196 and may generate information about a pixel, which is smaller than an integer pixel, from the reference picture. For a luma pixel, a DCT-based 8-tap interpolation filter, which differently sets filter coefficients to generate information about a pixel that is smaller than an integer pixel in units of ¼ pixels, may be used. For chroma signals, a DCT-based 4-tap interpolation filter, which differently sets filter coefficients to generate information about a pixel that is smaller than an integer pixel in units of ⅛ pixels, may be used.

Each of the inter-prediction units 122 and 127 may perform motion prediction based on the reference picture interpolated by the reference picture interpolation unit. As a method for calculating a motion vector, various methods, such as a Full search-based Block Matching Algorithm (FBMA), a Three-Step Search (TSS) algorithm, and a New Three-Step Search (NTS) Algorithm, may be used. The motion vector may have a motion vector value corresponding to ½ or ¼ of the interpolated pixel. Each of the inter-prediction units 122 and 127 may perform prediction on a current block using any one of various inter-prediction methods.

As the inter-prediction method, any of various methods such as a skip method, a merge method, and a Motion Vector Prediction (MVP) method may be used.

In inter-prediction, motion information, that is, information about the index of a reference picture, a motion vector, and a residual signal, is entropy-coded and then transferred to the decoding unit. When a skip mode is applied, a residual may not be generated, transformed, quantized or transmitted.

The inter-layer prediction unit 123 performs inter-layer prediction for predicting an upper layer using information about the lower layer. The inter-layer prediction unit 123 may perform inter-layer texture prediction, inter-layer motion prediction (inter-layer inter-prediction), inter-layer syntax prediction, etc. using the texture information, intra-prediction mode information, motion information, syntax information, etc. of the lower layer.

Inter-layer texture prediction means that the texture of a reference block in the lower layer is used as the predicted value (prediction sample) of the current block in the upper layer, wherein the texture of the reference block may be scaled via up-sampling.

Such inter-layer texture prediction may include an intra Base Layer (BL) mode, in which the reconstructed value of the reference block in the lower layer is up-sampled and the up-sampled reference block is used as the prediction sample of the current block, and in which a residual value between the prediction sample and the current block is encoded, and a reference index mode, in which an up-sampled lower layer is stored in a memory and the stored lower layer is used as a reference index.

The intra-prediction of the upper layer may be performed using the intra-prediction mode information of the lower layer, wherein the intra-prediction mode of the lower layer may be referred to as a ‘BL intra mode’.

Inter-layer motion prediction is also referred to as ‘inter-layer inter-prediction’. According to the inter-layer motion prediction, the current block of the upper layer may be predicted using motion information of the lower layer. The motion information may include a motion vector and a reference picture index.

Further, the inter-layer prediction unit 123 may perform inter-layer syntax prediction for predicting or generating the texture of the current block using the syntax information of the lower layer. At this time, the syntax information of the lower layer used for prediction of the current block may include information on an intra-prediction mode, motion information, etc.

Furthermore, as yet another example of inter-layer prediction, inter-layer residual prediction may be performed such that the current block is predicted using a differential picture, which is generated using differential values between the up-sampled pictures of a reconstructed picture of the upper layer and a reconstructed picture of the lower layer.

Inter-layer texture prediction, inter-layer motion prediction, inter-layer syntax prediction, and inter-layer residual prediction have been described as examples of inter-layer prediction, but the inter-layer prediction applicable to the present invention is not limited to these examples.

A residual block including residual information, which is the difference between the prediction block generated by each of the prediction units 120 and 125 and the reconstructed block of the prediction block, is generated, and the residual block is input to the corresponding transform unit 130 or 131.

Each of the transform units 130 and 131 may transform the residual block using a transform method such as a Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) or Discrete Sine Transform (DST). Whether to apply DCT or DST to transform the residual block may be determined based on the intra-prediction mode information of the prediction block used to generate the residual block and the size information of the prediction block. That is, each of the transform units 130 and 131 may use different transform methods depending on the size and the prediction method of the prediction block.

Each of the quantization units 140 and 141 may quantize values transformed in the frequency domain by the corresponding transform units 130 or 131. The quantization coefficients may change depending on the type of block or the importance of the pictures. The value calculated by the quantization unit 140 or 141 may be provided to the inverse-quantization unit 170 or 17 and the rearrangement unit 150 or 151.

Each of the rearrangement units 150 and 151 may rearrange coefficient values of the quantized residual value. The rearrangement unit 150 or 151 may change a 2D block format coefficient to a 1D vector format coefficient using a coefficient scanning method. For example, the rearrangement unit 150 or 151 may change the coefficient in a 2D block format to coefficient in a 1D vector format by scanning coefficients ranging from a DC coefficient to a high-frequency band coefficient using a zigzag scanning method. Depending on the size and on the intra-prediction mode of the transform block, a vertical scanning method for scanning 2D block format coefficients in a column direction and a horizontal scanning method for scanning 2D block format coefficients in a row direction, rather than the zigzag scanning method, may be used. That is, the determination of which one of the zigzag scanning, vertical scanning, and horizontal scanning methods is to be used may be determined depending on the size and the intra-prediction mode of the transform block.

Each of the entropy coding units 160 and 161 may perform entropy coding based on the values calculated by the rearrangement unit 150 or 151. The entropy coding may be implemented using, for example, various coding methods such as Exponential Golomb, Context-Adaptive Variable Length Coding (CAVLC), and Context-Adaptive Binary Arithmetic Coding (CABAC).

Each of the entropy coding units 160 and 161 may be provided with various types of information (such as the residual coefficient information, block type information, prediction mode information, partition unit information, prediction block information, transmission unit information, motion vector information, reference frame information, block interpolation information, and filtering information of a coding block) from the rearrangement unit 150 or 151 and the prediction unit 120 or 125, and may perform entropy coding based on the predetermined coding method. Further, the entropy coding unit 160 or 161 may perform entropy coding on the coefficients of the coding unit input from the rearrangement unit 150 or 151.

Each of the entropy coding units 160 and 161 may encode the intra-prediction mode information of the current block by binarizing the intra-prediction mode information. Each of the entropy coding units 160 and 161 may include a codeword mapping unit for performing such a binarization operation, and may perform binarization in a different manner depending on the size of the prediction block on which intra-prediction is to be performed. In the codeword mapping unit, a codeword mapping table may be adaptively generated using a binarization operation, or may be stored in advance. As another embodiment, each of the entropy coding units 160 and 161 may express current intra-prediction mode information using the codeNum mapping unit for performing codeNum mapping and the codeword mapping unit for performing codeword mapping. In the codeNum mapping unit and the codeword mapping unit, a codeNum mapping table and a codeword mapping table may be generated or stored.

Each of the inverse quantization units 170 and 171 and each of the inverse transform units 180 and 181 may inverse-quantize the values quantized by the quantization unit 140 or 141 and inverse-transform the values transformed by the transform unit 130 or 131. The residual value generated by the inverse quantization unit 170 or 171 and the inverse transform unit 180 or 181 may be combined with the prediction block predicted by the motion estimation unit, the motion compensation unit, and the intra-prediction unit, which are included in the prediction unit 120 or 125, and thus a reconstructed block may be generated.

Each of the filter units 190 and 191 may include at least one of a deblocking filter, an offset correction unit, and an Adaptive Loop Filter (ALF).

The deblocking filter may remove block distortion, generated due to the boundaries between blocks, in the reconstructed picture. Whether to perform deblocking, namely, whether to apply the deblocking filter to the current block, may be determined based on the pixels included in some rows or columns of the block. When the deblocking filter is applied to a block, a strong filter or a weak filter may be applied according to the required strength of deblocking filtering. Also, in applying the deblocking filter, when vertical filtering and horizontal filtering are performed, the vertical filtering and the horizontal filtering may be processed in parallel.

The offset correction unit may correct an offset between the picture on which deblocking is performed and the original picture in pixel units. In order to perform the offset correction on a specific picture, a method in which the pixels included in the picture are divided into a certain number of areas, the area to which an offset is to be applied is determined, and the offset is applied to the area may be used, or a method in which the offset is applied in consideration of the information about the edge of each pixel may be used.

The Adaptive Loop Filter (ALF) may perform filtering based on a value obtained by comparing the filtered reconstructed picture with the original picture. When pixels included in the picture are divided into one or more groups, a single filter to be applied to the corresponding group is determined and then filtering may be performed differentially for respective groups.

Each of the filter units 190 and 191 may be implemented using only a deblocking filter, using a deblocking filter and an ALF, or using a deblocking filter and an offset correction unit, rather than using all of a deblocking filter, an ALF, and an offset correction unit.

Each of the memories 195 and 196 may store the reconstructed block or pictures calculated by the filter unit 190 or 191, and the reconstructed block and pictures stored in the memory may be provided to the prediction unit 120 or 125 when inter-prediction is performed.

Information output from the entropy coding unit 100 b of the lower layer and information output from the entropy coding unit 100 a of the upper layer are multiplexed by the MUX 197, and may then be output in the form of a bitstream.

The MUX 197 may be included in the encoding unit 100 b of the lower layer, or may be implemented as a separate device or module, unlike the encoding unit 100.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram schematically showing a decoding device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, a decoding device 200 includes a decoding unit 200 a of an upper layer and a decoding unit 200 b of a lower layer.

The decoding unit 200 a of the upper layer may include an entropy decoding unit 210, a rearrangement unit 220, an inverse-quantization unit 230, an inverse-transform unit 245, a prediction unit 250, a filter unit 260, and a memory 240.

The decoding unit 200 b of the lower layer may include an entropy decoding unit 211, a rearrangement unit 221, an inverse-quantization unit 231, an inverse-transform unit 241, a prediction unit 251, a filter unit 261, and a memory 271.

When a bitstream including multiple layers is transmitted from the encoding device, a demultiplexer (DEMUX) 280 demultiplexes the information corresponding to each of the layers and then transmits the information to the decoding unit 200 a or 200 b of each of the layers. The input bitstream may be decoded through a process that is the reverse of the process of the encoding device.

Each of the entropy decoding units 210 and 211 may perform entropy-decoding through the reverse of the entropy-coding process performed by the entropy coding unit of the encoding device. Among the pieces of information decoded by the entropy decoding units 210 and 211, information required to generate a prediction block is provided to the prediction units 250 and 251, and a residual value, entropy-decoded by the entropy decoding unit, may be input to the rearrangement units 220 and 221.

To perform inverse transform, each of the entropy decoding units 210 and 211 may use at least one of CABAC and CAVLC, like the entropy coding units 160 and 161.

Each of the entropy decoding units 210 and 211 may decode information about intra-prediction and inter-prediction performed by the encoding device. The entropy decoding unit includes a codeword mapping unit that has a codeword mapping table for generating an intra-prediction mode number from a received codeword. The codeword mapping table may be stored in advance, or may be generated adaptively. When a codeNum mapping table is used, a codeNum mapping unit for performing codeNum mapping may be additionally included.

Each of the rearrangement units 220 and 221 may rearrange the bitstream, entropy-decoded by the entropy decoding unit 210 or 211, based on the rearrangement method used by the encoding unit. The coefficients in one-dimensional vector form, may be rearranged by reconstructing them into coefficients in 2-dimensional block-type. The rearrangement unit receives the information about the coefficient scanning method performed by the encoding unit, and may rearrange the coefficients using a method in which inverse scanning is performed based on the sequence of scanning performed by the encoding unit.

Each of the inverse-quantization units 230 and 231 may perform inverse quantization based on the quantization parameter provided by the encoding device and the rearranged coefficients of the block.

Each of the inverse-transform units 240 and 241 may perform inverse DCT and inverse DST, which correspond to DCT and DST performed by the corresponding transform unit 130 or 131, on the result of quantization performed by the encoding device. The inverse-transform may be performed in transmission units determined by the encoding device. In the transform unit of the encoding device, DCT and DST may be selectively performed according to multiple pieces of information, such as the prediction method, the size of the current block, the prediction direction, and the like. The inverse-transform unit 225 may perform inverse transform based on the information about the transform performed by the transform unit of the encoding device. Transform may be performed based on a coding block rather than a transform block.

Each of the prediction units 250 and 251 may generate a prediction block based on information about the generation of the prediction block, provided by the entropy decoding units 210 and 211, and information about previously decoded blocks or pictures, provided from the corresponding memories 270 and 271.

Each of the prediction units 250 and 251 may include a prediction unit determination unit, an inter-prediction unit, and an intra-prediction unit.

The prediction unit determination unit receives various information, including prediction unit information input from the entropy decoding unit, prediction mode information about an intra-prediction method, motion prediction information about an inter-prediction method, and the like, separates a prediction block from a current coding block, and determines whether the prediction block performs intra-prediction or inter-prediction.

The inter-prediction unit may perform inter-prediction of the current prediction block based on information included in at least one of the pictures preceding or following the current picture, which includes the current prediction block, using information required for inter-prediction of the current prediction block provided by the encoding device. In order to perform inter-prediction, it may be determined based on the corresponding coding block whether the motion prediction method of the prediction block included in the coding block is a skip mode, a merge mode, or an AMVP mode.

The intra-prediction unit may generate a prediction block based on information about pixels in the current picture. When the prediction block is a prediction block on which intra-prediction is performed, intra-prediction may be performed based on the intra-prediction mode information about the prediction block, provided by the encoding device. The intra-prediction unit may include an MDIS filter for performing filtering on reference pixels of the current block, a reference pixel interpolation unit interpolating reference pixels for generating reference pixels in a pixel unit smaller than an integer pixel, and a DC filter for generating a prediction block through filtering when the prediction mode of the current block is a DC mode.

The prediction unit 250 of the decoding unit 200 a of the upper layer may further include an inter-layer prediction unit for performing inter-layer prediction, in which the upper layer is predicted using information about the lower layer.

The inter-layer prediction unit may perform inter-layer texture prediction, inter-layer inter-prediction, inter-layer syntax prediction, etc. using the texture information, intra-prediction mode information, motion information, syntax information, etc. of the lower layer.

Prediction that uses the texture of a reference block in the lower layer as the predicted value of the current block in the upper layer according to the inter-layer texture prediction may be performed. The texture of the reference block may be scaled via up-sampling.

Inter-layer texture prediction includes an intra BL mode, in which the reconstructed value of the reference block in the lower layer is up-sampled and the up-sampled reference block is used as a predicted value for the current block, and in which a residual value between the predicted value and the current block is encoded, and a reference index mode, in which an up-sampled base layer is stored in the memory and the stored base layer is used as a reference index.

The intra-prediction of the upper layer may be performed using the intra-prediction mode information of the lower layer, wherein the intra-prediction mode of the lower layer may be called a ‘BL intra mode’.

According to the inter-layer motion prediction, the current block of the upper layer may be predicted using the motion information of the lower layer.

Further, the inter-layer prediction unit may perform inter-layer syntax prediction for predicting or generating the texture of a current block using the syntax information of the lower layer. Here, the syntax information of the lower layer used for the prediction of the current block may include information about an intra-prediction mode, motion information, etc.

Furthermore, the inter-layer prediction unit may perform inter-layer residual prediction for predicting the current block using a differential picture that is generated using differential values between up-sampled pictures of the reconstructed picture of the upper layer and the reconstructed picture of the lower layer.

Inter-layer texture prediction, inter-layer inter-prediction, inter-layer syntax prediction, and inter-layer residual prediction have been described as examples of inter-layer prediction, but the inter-layer prediction applicable to the present invention is not limited to those examples.

The reconstructed blocks or pictures may be provided to the filter units 260 and 261. Each of the filter units 260 and 261 may include a deblocking filter, an offset correction unit, and an ALF.

The encoding device may provide information about whether a deblocking filter has been applied to the corresponding block or picture and information indicating that the applied filter is a strong filter or a weak filter when the deblocking filter is applied. The deblocking filter of the decoding device receives information about the deblocking filter provided by the encoding device, and the decoding device may perform deblocking filtering on the corresponding block.

The offset correction unit may perform offset correction on the reconstructed picture based on the type of offset correction applied to the picture during encoding and information about the offset value.

The adaptive loop filter (ALF) may perform filtering based on the value obtained by comparing the picture, reconstructed after filtering, with the original picture. The ALF may be applied to a coding unit based on information about whether to apply the ALF, information about ALF coefficients, etc., which are provided from the encoding device. Such ALF information may be provided, with the ALF information being included in a specific parameter set.

Each of the memories 270 and 271 may store the reconstructed picture or block to be used as a reference picture or a reference block, and may output the reconstructed picture.

The encoding device and decoding device may perform encoding on three or more layers rather than two layers, in which case the encoding unit of the upper layer and the decoding unit of the upper layer may include multiple encoding units and decoding units, corresponding in number to the number of upper layers.

Hereinafter, although, in the embodiments of the present invention, a coding unit has been described using the term “coding block” for the convenience of description, it may be a block on which decoding as well as encoding is performed. Below, a reference picture list generation method, which is described with reference to the drawings based on the embodiments of the present invention, may be implemented to suit the functions of respective modules described above with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The encoding device and the decoding device may also be included in the scope of the present invention.

As described above, in the coding of video that supports a multi-layer structure, there are a method for encoding/decoding an enhancement layer using the motion information and the texture information of a base layer and a method for encoding/decoding an enhancement layer using an up-sampled base layer as a reference picture without changing a decoding method based on the coding unit (CU) or the prediction unit (PU) of a base layer. The latter method may be referred to as a ‘reference picture index (RefIdx) mode’.

When the reference picture index (RefIdx) mode is used, a picture that has been previously decoded in the enhancement layer may be used as a reference picture or, alternatively, a picture in the base layer or the lower layer may be up-sampled and then used as a reference picture.

Hereinafter, in the present invention, when a picture in the base layer or the lower layer is up-sampled and used as a reference picture, the up-sampled base layer picture or lower layer picture is referred to as an ‘inter-layer reference picture’.

Even in video that supports a multi-layer structure for multiple views, inter-prediction may be performed by using a layer for another view, other than the current layer, as a reference picture. The layer for another view, which is referred to for the encoding and decoding of the corresponding layer, may also be referred to as an ‘inter-layer reference picture’.

That is, when the reference picture set of the enhancement layer is configured to code video having a multi-layer structure that supports scalability, rather than a single layer, an inter-layer reference picture must also be taken into consideration.

Typically, inter-prediction may be performed such that at least one of the previous picture and the subsequent picture, relative to the current picture, is used as a reference picture, and prediction of the current block is performed based on the reference picture. A picture used for the prediction of the current block is referred to as a ‘reference picture’ or ‘a reference frame’.

The reference picture is specified by a reference picture index (refIdx), and a predetermined region in the reference picture is specified as a reference block via a motion vector.

In inter-prediction, a prediction block for the current block may be generated by selecting a reference picture and a reference block corresponding to the current block in the reference picture.

In inter-prediction, the encoding device and the decoding device may derive the motion information of the current block, and may then perform inter-prediction and/or motion compensation based on the derived motion information. Here, the encoding device and the decoding device may improve encoding/decoding efficiency by utilizing the motion information of a reconstructed neighboring block and/or a collocated block (col block), corresponding to the current block, in a previously reconstructed collocated (col) picture.

Here, the reconstructed neighboring block is a block in the current picture that has been encoded and/or decoded and reconstructed, and may include a block adjacent to the current block and/or a block located at the external corner of the current block. Further, the encoding device and the decoding device may determine a predetermined relative location, based on the block that is present at the location spatially corresponding to the current block, in the col picture, and may derive the col block based on the determined relative position (position inside and/or outside of the block located at the position spatially corresponding to the current block). Here, for example, the col picture may correspond to one of the reference pictures included in a reference picture list.

The inter-prediction may generate a prediction block so that a residual signal between the prediction block and the current block is minimized and the size of a motion vector is also minimized.

Meanwhile, a scheme for deriving motion information may differ according to the prediction mode for the current block. The prediction mode applied for the inter-prediction may include an Advanced Motion Vector Predictor (AMVP) mode, a merge mode, etc.

For example, when the AMVP mode is applied, each of the encoding device and the decoding device may generate a motion vector candidate list using the motion vector of a reconstructed neighboring block and/or the motion vector of a col block. The motion vector of the reconstructed neighboring block and/or the motion vector of the col block may be used as motion vector candidates. The encoding device may transmit a predicted motion vector index, which indicates an optimal motion vector selected from among the motion vector candidates included in the list to the decoding device. Here, the decoding device may select a predicted motion vector of the current block from among the motion vector candidates included in the motion vector candidate list using the motion vector index.

The encoding device may obtain a Motion Vector Difference (MVD) between the motion vector of the current block and the predicted motion vector, encode the MVD, and transmit the encoded MVD to the decoding device. Here, the decoding device may decode the received MVD and derive the motion vector of the current block using the sum of the decoded MVD and the predicted motion vector.

The encoding device may also transmit a reference picture index, indicating a reference picture, or the like to the decoding device.

The decoding device may predict the motion vector of the current block using pieces of motion information of the neighboring blocks, and may derive the motion vector of the current block using a residual received from the encoding device. The decoding device may generate a prediction block for the current block based both on the derived motion vector and on the reference picture index information received from the encoding device.

As another example, when the merge mode is applied, the encoding device and the decoding device may generate a merge candidate list using both the motion information of a reconstructed neighboring block and/or the motion information of a collocated (col) block. That is, when the motion information of the reconstructed neighboring block and/or the col block is present, the encoding device and the decoding device may use the motion information as a merge candidate for the current block.

The encoding device may select a merge candidate that enables optimal encoding efficiency to be provided, from among merge candidates included in the merge candidate list, as the motion information of the current block. Here, the merge index that indicates the selected merge candidate may be transmitted to the decoding device, with the merge index being included in a bitstream. The decoding device may select one from among the merge candidates included in the merge candidate list using the transmitted merge index, and may determine the selected merge candidate to be the motion information of the current block. Therefore, when the merge mode is applied, the motion information of the reconstructed neighboring block and/or the col block may be used as the motion information of the current block without change. The decoding device may reconstruct the current block by adding the prediction block to the residual transmitted from the encoding device.

In the above-described AMVP and merge modes, in order to derive the motion information of the current block, the motion information of the reconstructed neighboring block and/or the motion information of the col block may be used.

In the skip mode, which is one of the other modes used for inter-prediction, information about a neighboring block may be used for the current block, without change. Therefore, in the skip mode, the encoding device transmits no syntax information, such as a residual, except the information indicating the block, the motion information of which is to be used as the motion information of the current block, to the decoding device.

The encoding device and the decoding device may generate the prediction block for the current block by performing motion compensation on the current block based on the derived motion information. Here, the prediction block may mean a motion-compensated block generated as the result of performing motion compensation on the current block. Further, multiple motion-compensated blocks may constitute a single motion-compensated picture.

The decoding device may check a skip flag, a merge flag, etc. received from the encoding device, and may derive motion information required for inter-prediction of the current block, for example, information about a motion vector, a reference picture index, etc., in accordance with the checked flags.

The processing unit on which prediction is performed and the processing unit on which a prediction method and detailed content are designated may differ from each other. For example, the unit of a prediction mode may be designated as a prediction block, and then prediction may be performed on a transform block basis. Alternatively, the unit of the prediction mode may be designated as a prediction block, and intra-prediction may be performed on a transform block basis.

Pictures encoded/decoded prior to the current picture are stored in memory (e.g. Decoded Picture Buffer: DPB) and may then be used for the prediction of a current block (a current picture). A list of pictures usable for the inter-prediction of the current block is maintained as a reference picture list.

P slice denotes a slice decoded via intra-prediction, or inter-prediction that uses a maximum of one motion vector and one reference picture. B slice denotes a slice decoded via intra-prediction or inter-prediction that uses a maximum of two motion vectors and two reference pictures. Here, the reference pictures include short-term reference pictures and long-term reference pictures. The pictures may be specified by a Picture Order Count (POC), indicating the sequence of indication, wherein it can be seen that short-term reference pictures are pictures, the POC of which is not greatly different from that of the current block, and the long-term reference pictures are pictures, the POC of which is greatly different from that of the current picture.

Reference picture list 0 (for the convenience of description, hereinafter referred to as ‘L0’) is a list of reference pictures used for inter-prediction of a P slice or a B slice. Reference picture list 1 (for the convenience of description, hereinafter referred to as ‘L1’) is used for the inter-prediction of a B slice. Therefore, L0 is used for inter-prediction of blocks in a P slice for performing unidirectional prediction, and L0 and L1 are used for inter-prediction of blocks in a B slice for performing bidirectional prediction.

The decoding device constructs a reference picture list when performing decoding on a P slice and a B slice via inter-prediction. Reference pictures used for inter-prediction are designated via the reference picture list. A reference picture index is an index indicating each reference picture on the reference picture list.

The reference picture list may be constructed based on reference picture sets transmitted from the encoding device. Such a reference picture set may be composed of the POC of pictures used as reference pictures and a flag (used_by_curr_pic_s0_flag) indicating whether the corresponding picture is directly referred to. The reference pictures used to construct the reference picture list may be stored in memory (e.g. DPB). The pictures stored in the memory (pictures encoded/decoded prior to the current picture) are managed by the encoding device and the decoding device.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of a reference picture set that includes short-term reference pictures.

As shown in the drawing, a reference picture set (RPS) may comprise the POC of each of short-term reference pictures that must be stored in the DPB at the current time, and flag information indicating whether the current picture directly refers to a specific picture.

For example, when inter-prediction of a picture having a POC of 21 is performed, a total of three pictures (pictures having POC of 20, 19, and 16) as short-term reference pictures may be referred to, and all of the three pictures have a value of 1 as ‘used_by_curr_pic_s0_flag’, and thus the pictures are directly used for prediction of the picture having a POC of 21.

Meanwhile, when inter-prediction of a picture having a POC of 26 is performed, a total of three pictures (having a POC of 25, 24, and 20) as short-term reference pictures may be referred to, but the ‘used_by_curr_pic_s0_flag’ value of the picture having a POC of 25 is 0, unlike the ‘used_by_curr_pic_s0_flag’ values of the pictures having POCs of 24 and 20. In this case, the picture having a POC of 25 is not directly used for inter-prediction of the picture having a POC of 26.

Among current pictures, pictures that do not appear in the reference picture set are marked with an ‘unused for reference’ indicator, indicating that the pictures are not used as reference pictures, and may be deleted from the DPB.

FIG. 4 is a conceptual diagram showing a method for deriving the POC of long-term reference pictures.

As shown in the drawing, since a long-term reference picture has a POC greatly differing from that of the current picture, it may be represented using the Least Significant Bit (LSB) and the Most Significant Bit (MSB) of the POC.

‘MaxPocLsb’ denotes the maximum value that may be represented by LSB. When MaxPocLsb is 32, a long-term reference picture (LTRP) having a POC of 84 may be represented by 32*2+20, where LSB is 20 and MSB is 2.

The current picture having a POC of 338 may be represented by 32*10+11 when the maximum value that may be represented by LSB is 32, and thus 10 is the value of MSB and 11 is the value of LSB.

‘delta_poc_msb_cycle_lt’ denotes the value required to determine ‘DeltaPocMsbCycleLt’ that is the MSB of POC in the long-term reference picture set of the current picture. ‘DeltaPocMsbCycleLt’ may correspond to the difference between the MSB of the POC of the current picture and the MSB of the POC of the reference picture.

In the case of the long-term reference picture, the POC of the reference picture may be derived using the LSB value of the POC of the reference picture and the difference between the MSB of the POC of the current picture and the MSB of the POC of the reference picture.

For example, when the POC of the current picture is 331, a long-term reference picture (LTRP[0]) having a POC of 308 and indexed with ‘0’ may be represented by 331−1*32−11+20 if both the LSB value of 20 of the long-term reference picture and the difference of 1 between the MSB of the POC of the current picture and the MSB of the POC of the reference picture are used.

Similarly, the long-term reference picture (LTRP[1]) that is indexed with ‘1’ and has a POC of 170 may be represented by 331−5*32−11+10 if both the LSB of 10 of the long-term reference picture and the difference of 5 between the MSB of the POC of the current picture and the MSB of the POC of the reference picture are used.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, an initial reference picture list that can be referred to by the current picture may be constructed using the list of pictures present in the short-term reference picture buffer and the long-term reference picture buffer.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example in which a reference picture list is constructed.

The reference pictures may be classified into a first short-term reference picture set (RefPicSetStCurr0) composed of reference pictures Ref1 and Ref2 having a POC less than that of a current picture (Curr) based on the current picture, a second short-term reference picture set (RefPicSetStCurr1) composed of reference pictures Ref3 and Ref4 having a POC greater than that of the current picture, and a long-term reference picture set (RefPicSetLtCurr) composed of long-term reference pictures Ref LT1 and Ref LT2.

In this case, the first short-term reference picture set (RefPicSetStCurr0) is composed of pictures having a flag value (used_by_curr_pic_s0_flag) of 1 (delta_poc_s0 with used_by_curr_pic_s0_flag=1), and the second short-term reference picture set (RefPicSetStCurr1) is also composed of pictures having a flag value (used_by_curr_pic_s1_flag) of 1 (delta_poc_s1 with used_by_curr_pic_s1_flag=1).

As an aggregation of reference picture sets having different properties in this way, an initial reference picture list may be constructed.

As shown in FIG. 5, reference picture list 0, that is, L0, is constructed in the sequence of the first short-term reference picture set (RefPicSetStCurr0), the second short-term reference picture set (RefPicSetStCurr1), and the long-term reference picture set (RefPicSetLtCurr).

Meanwhile, reference picture list 1, that is, L1, is constructed in the sequence of the second short-term reference picture set (RefPicSetStCurr1), the first short-term reference picture set (RefPicSetStCurr0), and the long-term reference picture set (RefPicSetLtCurr).

The number of reference pictures that may be included in the reference picture list may be determined based on the information transmitted from the encoding device. For example, after constructing the reference picture lists, the encoding device may determine the number of reference pictures to be used, and may transmit information about the number of reference pictures to be used (e.g. num_ref_idx_lX_default_active_minus1, X=0 or 1) to the decoding device as the syntax element of a sequence parameter set (SPS). The decoding device may use the number of reference pictures, which is specified as the value obtained by adding 1 to the received information (num_ref_idx_lX_default_active_minus1), as a default value in a current sequence.

Further, when desiring to designate the number of reference pictures for each picture or each slice, the encoding device may transmit separate information indicating the number of reference pictures (e.g. num_ref_idx_l1_active_minus1, X=0 or 1) via a picture parameter set (PPS), a slice header, or the like. The decoding device may use a value, specified as the value obtained by adding 1 to the received information (num_ref_idx_l1_active_minus1), as the number of reference pictures in the current picture or the current slice.

When inter-prediction is performed, motion compensation may be performed using the reference pictures specified in the reference picture list constructed as described above.

In a multi-layer structure that provides spatial scalability or multiview scalability, the reference pictures of the enhancement layer may include reference pictures in the same layer and inter-layer reference pictures.

In this case, signaling of the inter-layer reference pictures may be performed using information required to identify layers and information required to identify reference pictures. For example, if the value of nuh_layer_id, which is present in an access unit identical to the current picture in an i-th layer and which is a j-th layer identifier (where i>j) transmitted with the layer identifier being included in the Network Abstraction Layer (NAL) unit header, is identical to the RefPiclayerId of the current picture, the corresponding picture may be determined to be used as the reference picture for the current picture. The inter-layer reference pictures may be indicated by long-term reference pictures.

‘RefPicLayerId’ denotes a value that can be signaled with the syntax element inter_layer_pred_layer_idc included in a slice header, and means a layer referred to by the current layer for inter-layer prediction.

FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram showing an example in which an inter-layer reference picture list is constructed according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6, in video having a multi-layer structure, an initial reference picture list may be constructed using a short-term reference picture set (RefPicSetStCurrBefore[i], hereinafter referred to as a ‘first reference picture set’) composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of a current picture, a short-term reference picture set (RefPicSetStCurr After[i], hereinafter referred to as a ‘second reference picture set’) composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, a long-term reference picture set (RefPicSetLtCurr[i], hereinafter referred to as a ‘third reference picture set’), and an inter-layer reference picture set (RefPicSetILCurr[i], hereinafter referred to as a ‘fourth reference picture set’).

The reference pictures included in the fourth reference picture set may be the pictures of a layer supporting spatial scalability, pictures included in a layer supporting multiview scalability, or pictures of a layer supporting depth scalability or video quality scalability. Here, the spatial scalability and video quality scalability may be coded in the same codec structure.

When a bitstream supports two or more scalability types, reference pictures for respective scalability types may be integrated into a single reference picture set. When a single reference picture set is configured for multiple scalability types, information about the sequence of the scalability types aligned in the reference picture set may be transmitted from the encoding device to the decoding device.

Meanwhile, reference pictures sets may be individually configured for multiple scalability types. That is, for a current picture, a fourth reference picture set, a fifth reference picture set, and a sixth reference picture set, each composed of inter-layer reference pictures, may be generated in addition to a first reference picture set, a second reference picture set, and a third reference picture set. Such an inter-layer reference picture set may be adaptively added to the reference picture list depending on the frequency of occurrence. For example, a reference picture set having high occurrence frequency may be allocated to the low index of the reference picture list.

The initial reference picture list of FIG. 6 is L0 in which the first reference picture set is configured in the lowest sequential position of the list. At this time, the fourth reference picture set may be added to the last sequential position of the initial reference picture list L0.

The initial reference picture list 0 is constructed using pictures having flag information (used_by_curr_pic_flag) of 1 among the reference pictures included in the respective reference picture sets, wherein the flag information indicates whether the corresponding picture is currently used as the reference picture. As shown in the drawing, the initial reference picture list 0 may be constructed using only first and second pictures among four pictures included in each reference picture set.

The initial reference picture list may be modified for each picture or each slice, and reference pictures may be changed based on the modification. The initial reference picture list may be modified using syntax elements included in a slice header (e.g. ref_pic_list_modification_flag_l0, list_entry_l0, ref_pic_list_modification_flag_l1, list_entry_l1).

The ref_pic_list_modification_flag_l0 and ref_pic_list_modification_flag_l1 may explicitly indicate whether reference pictures are transmitted from the encoding device to the decoding device, in the reference picture list 0 and the reference picture list 1. When the flag value is 1, the reference picture list is explicitly specified using information about transmitted reference pictures, whereas when the flag value is 0, the reference picture list is implicitly derived as the initial reference picture set.

When the flag value is 1, list_entry_l0 denotes information about detailed entries, that is, the index of reference pictures, constituting a reference picture list for L0, and list_entry_l1 denotes information about detailed entries constituting a reference picture list for L1.

By means of this modification, final reference picture list 0 may be constructed using first and second reference pictures (0, 1) of the first reference picture set, first and second reference pictures (0, 1) of the second reference picture set, and the first reference picture (0) of the fourth reference picture set.

In accordance with another example of the present invention, upon constructing the reference picture list, the fourth reference picture set for the inter-layer reference picture may be arranged at a sequential position other than the last sequential position in the list of FIG. 6. In the multi-layer structure, a strong correlation is present between the enhancement layer and the base layer due to the characteristics of video, and thus there may frequently occur the case where inter-layer reference pictures are referred to. When an inter-layer reference picture having a high occurrence frequency is added to the position other than the last position of the reference picture list, the encoding performance of the reference picture list may be improved.

In consideration of this fact, an inter-layer reference picture may be added to various positions of a reference picture list. FIGS. 7 to 10 are conceptual diagrams showing examples in which an inter-layer reference picture list is constructed according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 7 illustrates the configuration of reference picture list 0 according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein the configuration of reference picture list 0 is illustrated. As illustrated in the drawing, a fourth reference picture set that is an inter-layer reference picture set may be aligned at the second sequential position of a reference picture list.

Reference picture list 0 is constructed in the sequence of a first reference picture set, a fourth reference picture set, a second reference picture set, and a third reference picture set.

Reference picture list 0 is composed of pictures having flag information (used_by_curr_pic_flag) of 1, among reference pictures included in respective reference picture sets, wherein the flag information indicates whether the corresponding pictures are currently used as reference pictures. As shown in the drawing, initial reference picture list 0 may be constructed using only first and second pictures of four pictures in each of the reference picture sets.

The initial reference picture list constructed in this way may be modified for each picture or slice, and the entries of reference pictures may be changed according to the modification.

By means of this modification, final reference picture list 0 may be constructed using first and second reference pictures (0, 1) of the first reference picture set, first and second reference pictures (0, 1) of the fourth reference picture set, and the first reference picture (0) of the second reference picture set.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the configuration of reference picture list 0 according to another embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 8 <a>, reference picture list 0 may be constructed in the sequence of a first reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of a current picture, a second reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, a fourth reference picture set composed of inter-layer reference pictures, and a third reference picture set composed of long-term reference pictures.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 8 <b>, reference picture list 0 is constructed such that the fourth reference picture set composed of inter-layer reference pictures is arranged at a first sequential position, and then the first reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, the second reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, and the third reference picture set composed of long-term reference pictures are sequentially arranged.

In <b>, there is an advantage in that, when the frequency at which inter-layer reference pictures are referred to is high, the encoding and decoding efficiency of the reference picture list may be improved.

Alternatively, in a further embodiment, similar to the generation of the reference picture list of a single layer, the reference picture list may be constructed in the sequence of a first reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, a second reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, and a third reference picture set composed of long-term reference pictures, and thereafter the positions to which inter-layer reference pictures are to be added may be specified at a slice or sequence level, that is, in a slice header or sequence parameter header.

The inter-layer reference pictures may be added to the specified positions, and then the reference picture list may be constructed. Such signaling information may be encoded with the signaling information being included in the slice header, sequence header or video parameter set, and may be transmitted to the decoding device.

FIG. 9 illustrates the construction of reference picture list 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in the drawing, a fourth reference picture set that is an inter-layer reference picture set may be aligned at the last sequential position of the reference picture list.

Reference picture list 1 is constructed in the sequence of a second reference picture set, a first reference picture set, a third reference picture set, and the fourth reference picture set.

Reference picture list 1 is constructed using pictures having flag information (used_by_curr_pic_flag) of 1, among reference pictures included in respective reference picture sets, wherein the flag information indicates whether the corresponding pictures are currently used as reference pictures. As shown in the drawing, initial reference picture list 1 may be constructed using only first and second pictures of four pictures included in each of the reference picture sets.

The initial reference picture list constructed in this way may be modified for each picture or slice, and the entries of the reference pictures may be changed according to the modification.

By means of this modification, final reference picture list 1 may be constructed using the first reference picture (0) of the second reference picture set, the first and second reference pictures (0, 1) of the first reference picture set, and the first and second reference pictures (0, 1) of the fourth reference picture set.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the configuration of reference picture list 1 according to another embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 10 <a>, reference picture list 1 may be constructed in the sequence of a second reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of a current picture, a first reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, a fourth reference picture set composed of inter-layer reference pictures, and a third reference picture set composed of long-term reference pictures.

Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 10 <b>, reference picture list 1 may be constructed such that the second reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture is allocated to a first sequential position, and the fourth reference picture set composed of inter-layer reference pictures is allocated to a second sequential position. Then, the reference picture list 1 may be constructed in the sequence of the first reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, and the third reference picture set composed of long-term reference pictures.

Alternatively, similar to the generation of the reference picture list of a single layer, the reference picture list may be constructed in the sequence of the second first reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, the first reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, and the third reference picture set composed of long-term reference pictures, and then positions to which inter-layer reference pictures are to be added may be specified at a slice or sequence level, that is, in a slice header or sequence parameter header.

The inter-layer reference pictures may be added to the specified positions, and then the reference picture list may be constructed. Such signaling information may be encoded with the signaling information being included in the slice header, sequence header or video parameter set, and may be transmitted to the decoding device.

In accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention, the alignment sequence of an inter-layer reference picture set may be set according to the index (tempralId) of a temporal sub-layer for the current picture.

FIG. 11 illustrates a reference picture list constructed using the index of a temporal sub-layer according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In a multi-layer structure, the frequency at which an inter-layer reference picture is used may differ depending on the temporal sub-layer for a current picture belonging to an enhancement layer. As temporalID that is the index value of a temporal sub-layer is larger, it may be more effective to perform inter-prediction by referring to pictures in the same layer rather than by referring to reference pictures in another layer.

In other words, when the value of tempralId is smaller, it may be more effective in coding to refer to inter-layer pictures rather than referring to pictures in the same layer. When the value of tempralId is larger, it may be more efficient in coding to use pictures in the same layer as reference pictures rather than using inter-layer pictures as reference pictures.

In the present embodiment, the positions to which inter-layer reference pictures are to be added in an initial reference picture list may be adaptively changed according to the index (tempralId) of a temporal sub-layer in consideration of the fact that the frequency at which inter-layer pictures are referred to is varied according to the temporal sub-layer.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the construction of reference picture list 0 when the values of tempralId range from 0 to 2.

When the value of tempralId is 0, there is a strong possibility that inter-layer prediction will be performed in the enhancement layer, and thus a fourth reference picture set composed of inter-layer reference pictures may be added to the first sequential position of an initial reference picture list.

The initial reference picture list constructed using pictures, for which flag information (used_by_curr_pic_flag) indicating whether the corresponding picture is currently used as a reference picture is 1, among reference pictures included in respective reference picture sets, is composed of four pictures (0, 1, 2, 3) included in a fourth reference picture set, and first and second pictures (0,1) of each of a first reference picture set, a second reference picture set, and a third reference picture set.

As shown in the drawing, after the initial values of the reference picture list have been set, the reference picture list is modified, and then a final reference picture list may be set. Information about the modification of the reference picture list may be signaled in a slice header.

The modified final reference picture list 0 is constructed in the sequence of first and second pictures (0,1) of the first reference picture set, first and second pictures (0,1) of the fourth reference picture set, and the first picture (0) of the second reference picture set.

When the value of tempralId is 1, the fourth reference picture set composed of inter-layer reference pictures may be added subsequent to the first reference picture set in the initial reference picture list 0.

The initial reference picture list constructed using pictures, for which flag information (used_by_curr_pic_flag) indicating whether the corresponding picture is currently used as a reference picture is 1, is composed of first and second pictures (0,1) of each of the first reference picture set, the fourth reference picture set, the second reference picture set, and the third reference picture set.

The modified final reference picture list 0 is constructed in the sequence of first and second pictures (0,1) of the first reference picture set, first and second pictures (0,1) of the fourth reference picture set, and the first picture of the second reference picture set.

When the value of tempralId is 2, there is a strong possibility that inter-prediction in the same layer will be performed rather than inter-layer prediction in an enhancement layer, and thus the fourth reference picture set composed of inter-layer reference pictures may be added subsequent to the third reference picture set, that is, at the last sequential position, in the initial reference picture list.

Initial reference picture list 0 constructed using pictures, for which flag information (used_by_curr_pic_flag) indicating whether the corresponding picture is currently used as a reference picture is 1, is composed of first and second pictures (0,1) of each of a first reference picture set, a second reference picture set, a third reference picture set, and a fourth reference picture set.

The modified final reference picture list is constructed in the sequence of first and second pictures (0,1) of the first reference picture set, the first and second pictures (0,1) of the second reference picture set, and the first picture (0) of the fourth reference picture set.

Similar to the above description, the initial reference list L1 may be configured such that the position at which the fourth reference picture set is to be added varies according to the value of temporalId. For example, when the value of temporalId is 0, initial reference list L1 may be constructed in the sequence of the fourth reference picture set, the second reference picture set, the first reference picture set, and the third reference picture set. When the value of temporalId is 1, the initial reference list L1 may be constructed in the sequence of the second reference picture set, the fourth reference picture set, the first reference picture set, and the third reference picture set. When the value of temporalId is as large as 2, the fourth reference picture set may be added to the last sequential position of the initial reference picture list L1.

In summary, as shown in FIG. 11, the position, to which inter-layer reference pictures are to be added, in the initial reference picture list, may be adaptively changed according to the value of temporalId of the current picture.

Meanwhile, when a current picture refers to multiple layers, that is, when there are multiple inter-layer reference pictures, the multiple reference pictures may be separated to be capable of configuring multiple inter-layer reference picture sets. The multiple inter-layer reference picture sets may be aligned at different sequential positions in an initial reference picture list.

For example, in video supporting multiview scalability, when multiple views, that is, multiple layers, are used as reference pictures, a fourth reference picture set composed of inter-layer reference pictures may be separated and included in the reference picture list. The reference picture list may be constructed using various methods depending on the sequence of views of the current layer and the layer of the reference picture or the degree of proximity of views thereof.

A layer having a smaller difference in view from the current layer has a strong possibility that pictures in the corresponding layer will be used as inter-layer reference pictures. In other words, a layer having a larger difference in view from the current layer has a weak possibility that pictures in the corresponding layer will be referred to by the current picture. In accordance with the present embodiment, the sequence in which reference pictures are added to the reference picture list may be adaptively modified depending on the proximity sequence in which the frequency of occurrence of the reference pictures, that is, the degree of reference of pictures between views, is taken into consideration. That is, the position to which inter-layer reference pictures are to be added in the reference picture list may be adaptively determined depending on the number of inter-layer reference pictures and the sequence of the inter-layer reference pictures.

That is, a lower index in a reference picture list may be allocated to a reference picture in a layer having a smaller difference in view from the current layer, and a higher index in the reference picture list may be allocated to a reference picture in a layer having a larger difference in view from the current layer.

FIG. 12 illustrates a reference picture list constructed using multiview reference pictures according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 12, among reference picture 0, reference picture 1, reference picture 2, and reference picture 3 that may be included in a multiview reference picture set, the reference picture 0 and the reference picture 1 may be aligned at the first position of reference picture list 0, and the reference picture 2 and the reference picture 3 may be aligned subsequent to a first reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures.

Here, the reference picture 0 and the reference picture 1 may be reference pictures in a layer having a smaller difference in view from the current layer, and the reference picture 2 and the reference picture 3 may be pictures having a larger difference in view from the current layer.

As another example, reference picture 0 that is a first inter-layer reference picture may be aligned at the first sequential position of the initial reference picture list, reference picture 1 that is a second inter-layer reference picture may be aligned subsequent to the first reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures, and subsequent inter-layer reference pictures may be sequentially added to the position subsequent to a long-term reference picture set composed of long-term reference pictures.

The difference in view between the current layer and the reference layer which can be aligned in a fore portion of the reference picture list may be set to a default value, or may be variably set by the encoding device and transmitted to the decoding device.

Further, when an inter-layer reference picture set is added to an initial reference picture list, information about criterion of applying the position of addition differently, may be set to a fixed value and the information may be signaled to the decoding device, with being included in a video parameter set (VPS).

In reference picture list 1, a reference picture in a layer having a smaller difference in view from the current layer may be aligned at the first position of an initial reference picture list, and may be aligned subsequent to a second reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture. A reference picture set composed of reference pictures having a larger difference in view from the current layer may be aligned at the last position of the initial reference picture list or may be aligned at a sequential position prior to a third reference picture set composed of long-term reference pictures.

Alternatively, reference pictures in a layer having a larger difference in view from the current layer may be aligned at the first position of the initial reference picture list, or may be aligned subsequent to a second reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture. Further, a reference picture set composed of reference pictures having a smaller difference in view from the current layer may be aligned at the last position of the initial reference picture list or aligned at a sequential position prior to a third reference picture set composed of long-term reference pictures.

Although multiview reference points have been included in the inter-layer reference picture set of FIG. 12, the construction of the reference picture list shown in FIG. 12 may also be applied to the case where the type of scalability is spatial scalability and pictures of multiple layers are used as reference pictures. That is, reference pictures may be separated and added to the reference picture list depending on the difference between the IDs (dependency IDs) required to identify the current picture and spatial layers.

As described above, when an inter-layer reference picture set is included in a reference picture list, the position to which the inter-layer reference picture set is to be added may be variously set, and the method for signaling this position may include multiple methods.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a method for generating a reference picture list according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, the decoding device generates a short-term reference picture set and a long-term reference picture set composed of pictures present in the same layer as a current picture (S1310).

The short-term reference picture set may include a short-term reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, and a short-term reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture.

The long-term reference picture set is composed of long-term reference pictures having a large difference in POC from that of the current picture.

Initial reference picture list 0 may be primarily aligned in the sequence of the short-term reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, the short-term reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, and the long-term reference picture set.

Initial reference picture list 1 may also be primarily aligned in the sequence of the short-term reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, the short-term reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, and the long-term reference picture set.

The decoding device derives position information about the position to which an inter-layer reference picture set is to be added (S1320). Such position information is information signaled by the encoding device to the decoding device, and may be transmitted, with the position information being included in a slice or sequence level, for example, a slice header or sequence header.

In the case of a bitstream that supports multiple view layers, such as for multiview scalability, there are many cases where pictures for respective layers have different characteristics, and have different correlations with a reconstructed picture of a base layer. Further, temporalId values may differ from each other between multiple layers, and the frequencies at which inter-layer reference occurs may differ from each other depending on the temporalId values.

Depending on such various conditions, the optimal position to which the inter-layer reference pictures are to be added may differ for respective layers, and thus the position to which inter-layer reference pictures are to be added may be signaled for respective multiple layers.

When the position information is derived, the decoding device adds the inter-layer reference picture set to the corresponding position of the initial reference picture list indicated by the derived position information (S1330).

The inter-layer reference picture set may be generated before the position information is derived, or may be generated simultaneously with the addition of inter-layer reference pictures to the initial reference picture list after the position information has been derived.

The initial reference picture list may be composed of pictures having flag information (used_by_curr_pic_flag) of 1 among reference pictures included in the reference picture set, wherein the flag information indicates whether the corresponding pictures are used as reference pictures.

Here, the sequence of reference picture sets aligned in the initial reference picture list may be set variously according to the position information.

For example, the initial reference picture list 0 may be constructed in the sequence of a short-term reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, an inter-layer reference picture set, a short-term reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, and a long-term reference picture set composed of long-term reference pictures.

The initial reference picture list 1 may be constructed in the sequence of a short-term reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, an inter-layer reference picture set, a short-term reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, and a long-term reference picture set composed of long-term reference pictures.

Alternatively, when the inter-layer reference picture set includes multiple sub-inter-layer reference picture sets, and the sub-reference layer picture sets are separated and added to the initial reference picture list, the position information may include information about the position to which respective sub-reference layer picture sets are to be added.

For example, in the case of a layer supporting multiview scalability, initial reference picture list 0 may be constructed in the sequence of a short-term reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, a sub-inter-layer reference picture set composed of pictures having a view sequential position lower than that of the current picture among multiview reference layer pictures, a short-term reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, a long-term reference picture set composed of long-term reference pictures, and a sub-inter-layer reference picture set composed of pictures having a view sequential position higher than that of the current picture among the multiview reference layer pictures.

Initial reference picture list 1 may be constructed in the sequence of a short-term reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than that of the current picture, a sub-inter-layer reference picture set composed of pictures having a view sequential position higher than that of the current picture among the multiview reference layer pictures, a short-term reference picture set composed of short-term reference pictures having POCs less than that of the current picture, a long-term reference picture set composed of long-term reference pictures, and a sub-inter-layer reference picture set composed of pictures having a view sequential position lower than that of the current picture among the multiview reference layer pictures.

Alternatively, the inter-layer reference picture set may be generated based on the temporal sub-layer index (tempralId) of the current picture, or based on the maximum number of temporal sub-layers to which inter-layer prediction is permitted.

For example, as the temporal sub-layer index (tempralId) of the current picture is lower, the inter-layer reference picture set may be aligned at the lower sequential position of the initial reference picture set. In this case, the detailed position to which the inter-layer reference picture set is to be added may be signaled.

Alternatively, as the difference between the values of the temporal sub-layer index (tempralId) of the current picture and the temporal sub-layer index of the reference layer is smaller, the inter-layer reference picture set may be aligned at the lower sequential position of the initial reference picture set. Even in this case, the detailed position to which the inter-layer reference picture set is to be added may be signaled.

Based on a final reference picture list when the final reference picture list is generated via the modification of the reference picture list or based on the initial reference picture list when the initial reference picture list is not modified, the decoding device performs prediction of the current picture and decoding of the current picture (S1340).

When the current picture is predicted, reference pictures included in the inter-layer reference picture set are indicated by long-term reference pictures, and the decoding device uses the reference pictures included in the inter-layer reference picture set as reference pictures of the current picture.

Meanwhile, in order to signal the position to which inter-layer reference pictures are to be added, the encoding device must calculate bit rate distortion, in which video quality relative to the number of bits is considered, for each of the positions to which inter-layer reference pictures can be added, and determine the position to which the inter-layer reference pictures can be added, based on the results of calculation. In this case, the encoding computational load that must be performed by the encoding device may be increased.

In order to reduce the computational load in the encoding stage while maintaining variety in pictures for respective multiple layers, the encoding device may limit the number of positions to which reference pictures are to be added to a predetermined number, may set the positions, to which inter-layer reference pictures can be added, to correspond to the predetermined number, and may calculate the bit rate distortion only for the set positions. Based on the calculated bit rate distortion, the optimal positions to which the inter-layer reference pictures can be added may be derived, and the encoding device may transmit information about the positions to the decoding device.

For example, the positions may be set such that the inter-layer reference pictures can be added to three positions, such as the first position of the initial reference picture list, the position subsequent to the short-term reference picture set, and the position subsequent to the long-term reference picture set. In this case, the encoding device may encode the indication indices of the positions to which the inter-layer reference pictures are to be added, among the three positions, and may signal the encoded indices.

The positions to which inter-layer reference pictures are to be added and indication indices for identifying the positions may be mapped to each other, as shown in the following Table 1.

TABLE 1 Position to which inter-layer reference Indication picture is added index First position of initial reference picture list 0 Subsequent to short-term reference picture set 1 Subsequent to long-term reference picture set 2

Referring to Table 1, when the inter-layer reference picture is added to the first position of the reference picture list, an index may be set to 0, when the inter-layer reference picture is added to the position subsequent to the short-term reference picture set, the index may be set to 1, and when the inter-layer reference picture is added to the position subsequent to the long-term reference picture set, the index may be set to 2.

The position to which an inter-layer reference picture is to be added may vary for each layer or each slice. In this case, the indication index may be signaled for each layer or each slice.

Further, the indication flag indicating whether the indication index, indicating the position to which the inter-layer reference picture is to be added, has been transmitted, may be signaled, with the indication flag being included in the video parameter set of each layer.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a method for generating a reference picture list according to another embodiment of the present invention.

First, the decoding device receives an indication flag that indicates whether an indication index indicating the position, to which an inter-layer reference picture for each layer is to be added, in the initial reference picture list has been transmitted, and determines whether an indication index has been transmitted, based on the received indication flag (S1410).

The indication flag may be signaled, with the flag being included in the video parameter set of each layer.

When indication flag is 1 (S1420), the decoding device receives and derives the indication index, and derives the position to which an inter-layer reference picture is to be added in the initial reference picture list for each layer (S1430).

The position to which the inter-layer reference picture is to be added may be mapped to the indication index, as shown in Table 1. The decoding device may derive the position to which the inter-layer reference picture is to be added, using the lookup table, as shown in Table 1.

In contrast, when the indication flag is 0 (S1420), the decoding device may determine position information about the position to which an inter-layer reference picture set is to be added, from a preset reference picture list (S1440). Thereafter, the decoding device may add the inter-layer reference picture set to the corresponding position of the initial reference picture list, indicated by position information preset to a default value, and then constructs the initial reference picture list (S1450).

The decoding device may perform prediction of the current picture and decoding of the current picture, based on the initial reference picture list (S1460).

Steps S1450 and S146 are identical to steps S1330 and S1330, and thus a repeated description thereof will be omitted.

In accordance with the present invention, flag information indicating whether the inter-layer reference picture set is separated into at least two sub-reference layer picture sets and then added to the reference picture list may be signaled. That is, flag information required to easily recognize the determination of whether an inter-layer reference picture set is separated into two or more sub-reference layer picture sets may be transmitted from the encoding device to the decoding device.

As described above, when the reference pictures for multiview layers are separated into multiple sub-reference layer picture sets, the flag information is 1.

If the flag information is 1, information about the number of sub-reference layer picture sets into which inter-layer reference picture sets are separated may be additionally signaled.

Further, when the flag information is 1, the above-described indication flag and indication index may also be signaled.

In this way, according to the present invention, there are provided a method for generating a reference picture list including pictures of another layer with respect to a layer to be currently encoded and decoded, and a device using the method.

The inter-layer reference picture set included in the reference picture list may be adaptively added to the reference picture list depending on the characteristics of picture sets, for example, the index of the temporal sub-layer of the current picture, the difference between the index values of the temporal sub-layers in layers, or the sequence of views.

The method and device for signaling the position information about the positions, to which inter-layer reference pictures are to be added, in the reference picture list are included in the scope of the present invention. The position information may be individually encoded and signaled, or may be signaled as index information indicating preset limited positions.

In the above-described exemplary systems, although methods have been described based on flowcharts as a series of steps or blocks, the present invention is not limited to a specific sequence of steps, wherein some steps may be performed in a sequence differing from that of the above-described steps, or simultaneously with the steps. Further, since the above-described embodiments include various aspects of examples, it should be understood that combinations of the embodiments also correspond to embodiments of the present invention. Therefore, it is apparent that the present invention may include all substitutions, modifications and changes belonging to the scope of the accompanying claims of the invention.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

The present invention may be used to code a video signal having a multi-layer structure. 

1-34. (canceled)
 35. A method for decoding video supporting multiple layers, comprising: reconstructing inter-layer reference pictures by decoding corresponding pictures in reference layers for inter-layer prediction of a current picture in a current layer; generating an initial reference picture list based on an inter-layer reference picture set including the inter-layer reference pictures; generating a final reference picture list by modifying the initial reference picture list and performing prediction of a current block in the current picture based on the final reference picture list and a reference picture index of a current block, wherein the initial reference picture list is constructed by dividing the inter-layer reference picture set into a plurality of sub-reference layer picture sets, the plurality of sub-reference picture sets including a first sub-reference layer picture set and a second sub-reference layer picture set, wherein the initial reference picture list comprises an initial reference picture list 0 and an initial reference picture list 1, wherein the first sub-reference layer picture set is arranged, in the initial reference picture list 0, between a first short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs less than POCs of the current picture and a second short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than POCs of the current picture, and the second sub-reference layer picture set is arranged, in the initial reference picture list 0, at the end of a long-term reference picture set including long-term reference pictures, wherein the first short-term reference picture set, the second short-term reference picture set and the long-term reference picture set belong to the current layer, and wherein the first and the second sub-reference layer picture sets belong to a different layer from the current layer.
 36. The method of claim 35, wherein the initial reference picture list 0 is constructed in a sequence of a first short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs less than POCs of the current picture, the first sub-reference layer picture set, a second short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than POCs of the current picture, a long-term reference picture set including long-term reference pictures, and the second sub-reference layer picture set.
 37. The method of claim 35, wherein the initial reference picture list 1 is constructed in a sequence of a second short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs greater than POCs of the current picture, the second sub-reference layer picture set, a first short-term reference picture set including short-term reference pictures having POCs less than POCs of the current picture, a long-term reference picture set including long-term reference pictures, and the first sub-reference layer picture set. 